Julio's Story: Fighting land grabbing in Mozambique
Julio Ngoene is fighting to save not only his community’s farmland, but also its way of life.
Julio is the village chief for approximately 100 households, totalling over 1,000 people. Their agricultural livelihood is critical to them.
However, a biofuel company is setting up a project near his village and has taken over – without permission – 85% of the village farmland and destroyed its crops.
At the onset of the project, the company promised to resettle the village but, two years later, Julio and the villagers have heard nothing more. Despite the lack of permission for the farmland that was taken, no-one in the community has received any compensation.
The situation in Mozambique:
The agricultural sector in Mozambique presents both challenges and possibilities. Nearly 75 percent of the population works in agriculture, but productivity is low.
Malnutrition levels are among the highest in the world, with 41 percent of children under 5 years old suffering from chronic hunger. In addition, unpredictable cycles of droughts and flooding resulting from climate change present ever increasing difficulties for farmers around the country.
At the same time, the country has enormous possibilities. Mozambique has extensive agricultural lands with the potential to significantly increase agricultural production.
In recent years, proposals to increase private investment in the biofuels sector increased dramatically. As of June 2008, a total of 21 new agrofuel production projects had been presented to the government for approval, including several new investment projects from Italy, Brazil and South Africa. While some projects call for extensive production of sugarcane and other crops, others promote smaller-scale initiatives in a variety of settings.
Mozambique has some of the most progressive land laws in Africa. However, much more needs to be done to enforce these laws in order to avoid unfair deals and conflict between tenants and landowners. An issue that has become all the more pressing given government-backed biofuels projects, which threaten land grabs from smallholder farmers like Julio.
